Author's Note: Hey! Hey! You! Yeah, you! You should go check out my blog! I'm going to go put a link up to it on my profile, like, as soon as I'm done posting this. I've got loads of fun stuff on there for you to read! Also, for those of you interested in reading a scene that DID NOT appear in All the Pieces, then I suggest you go check out "All the Pieces Drafts" and go to the most recent chapter that I just put up. It's a scene that didn't make it into the final draft. Erm, I think that was all the little updates I wanted to give you.

Here's the second half of the Hollow Bastion battle, I am SO enjoying the charrie development I got out of Cloud and Terra both. Twas pretty awesome. Oh, and that thing that Cloud mentions in regards to nearly killing Aerith? I'm guessing it has something to do with when he went insane and did nearly do so-NOT the time where Sephiroth killed her right after. I may explore this later. Moving on. Enjoy the scene!

"Oh, this is gonna be good."

xx

"Fire!" Cid shouted, blasting a dent into a horde of Guardians.

"Is everyone simply really accepting here," Terra asked, slicing Master Eraqus' Keyblade through some Soldiers. "Or is it just me?"

"Everyone's really accepting here," Cloud responded, taking out a Guardian with one blow.

"But I have to wonder if Yuffie's reaction is more real than everyone else's," Terra muttered. "What if everyone's secretly disgusted with me? Or at least wary."

"Yuffie's that way with everyone," Cloud said. "Don't feel special."

"Aw, but she listens teh you!" Cid grumbled, charging up the cannon again. "And she loves Aerith."

"Everyone loves Aerith," Cloud said.

Terra sighed and tried to focus on some Neoshadows that were coming up behind Cid.

"You were possessed, right?" Cloud asked.

Terra nodded, wondering why Cloud was stimulating the conversation. From what he knew of the man, he only spoke when spoken to, or when there was something really vital to be said.

Cloud nodded his head once in understanding. "So was I, and I almost killed Aerith because of it."

Terra didn't want to mention all the people he had killed or the deaths that he had ordered while being possessed by Xehanort. Besides, there was something about the way that Cloud said that—something about the potential murder of the sleight brunette who dressed all in pink.

Whose heart was filled with light. It would be like killing one of the Princesses of Heart.

Oh wait…

Well, he had only taken her heart. And according to Sora, she'd gotten it back…

"Does Aerith resent you?" he found himself asking.

Cloud shook his head. "And I'm nearly positive that your friends don't resent you."

"Ya know, when you bring up stuff like that, you put a damper on fightin'," Cid grumbled, firing the cannon.

Cloud didn't respond. Terra didn't have anything to say either.

The next sound that came out of any of their mouths was a strangled shout from Cid as a Phantomtail dove and attacked him. It went at Cid with its talons with a piercing cry.

"Cid!" Cloud shouted.

"Don' worry 'bout me!" Cid growled. "The cannon! Get Shera!"

If Cloud seemed surprised that Cid had named his cannon 'Shera', he didn't say. In one swift movement, his giant sword was in the holster on his back and he had both hands on the nearly-charged cannon.

Terra started at the Phantomtail, figuring that someone should help Cid out.

"Fire," Cloud said quietly.

The cannon went off, taking out several Neoshadows, even more Guardians and a second Phantomtail that had come their way.

Perhaps he was prompted by Cloud's quiet word, or perhaps it was just a hunch, but Terra blasted a Firaga at the Phantomtail. It disappeared.

Terra was more relieved that it hadn't been Dark Firaga than he was about the Heartless being gone. He offered his hand out for Cid to take and the older man allowed himself to be helped up. He stood mainly on his right leg though.

"Blasted thing, got meh leg."

Sure enough, there was a bloody gash running down Cid's leg.

Cloud turned around and handed him a bottle of Hi-Potion.

"Thanks."

He downed the bottle.

Terra had to appreciate the camaraderie between the two. Cloud and Cid obviously had a history, even if they'd spent the past several years fighting in different places. Yet they worked alongside each other as if they'd been doing this all their lives.

Terra wanted to have that—with Ven and Aqua.

xx

Rinoa, Aerith and Aqua worked well together. Aqua balanced out her Command Style, making Spellweaver last as long as she could possibly make it. Aerith was taking turns between sporadically curing the group and whacking Heartless with her staff. Rinoa was casting whatever spell she felt like it on whatever caught her eye.

Doom on a Phantomtail, because it wasn't dying fast enough.

Aero on that Guardian just to bother it.

Stop on that Neoshadow to prevent it from disappearing into the ground, allowing Aqua to kill it.

Blizzaga on that Soldier.

Protect on Cid while he drank that Hi-Potion.

"I would have gotten him," Aerith said.

Rinoa shrugged.

"Who says we beat these Heartless once and for all?" she asked.

"In one go?" Aerith asked. "But that's nearly impossible."

Rinoa raised an eyebrow and pointed to herself. Then she pointed to Aerith.

"You're not giving yourself enough credit. I know what you can do. I just want to be done with this battle. I would much rather be with Squall than fighting these things. And, from what I hear, you guys have had a long day."

"Those days happen," Aerith said with a shrug, bashing a Guardian with her staff a few times until it died.

Rinoa shrugged and sent a Thundaga at an emerging Neoshadow. "But, if you could be done for the day, wouldn't it be nice?"

Aerith smiled. "What are you suggesting?"

"Oh, just a lot of magic to kill these things off. I was thinking maybe some Holy and a Meteor. Granted, it'd work a lot better if they'd stop moving."

As she said the last word, she sent off her Blaster Edge at a Soldier.

"I can take care of that," Aerith said. "Easily."

"Sweet," Rinoa said. "All of them?"

Aerith took a moment to survey the scene. Then nodded.

"Anything I can help with?" Aqua asked, coming over. She caught her Keyblade as it spiraled back to her covered in light.

"What are your strengths?" Rinoa asked.

Aqua frowned, slightly taken aback by the question.

"Can you help us with a rather large magic attack to kill off all the Heartless in one go?" Rinoa asked instead.

"Perhaps," Aqua said, tossing her Keyblade at nearby Guardian to keep her Command Style going. "I could Ghost Drive. That'll allow me to move faster than the enemies and take them out."

"Excellent," Rinoa said. "How long can you keep them frozen?"

"A good couple of minutes."

"Even better! I think I'll start with Meltdown, just to severely mess up their vitality. Then I'll follow-up with a Meteor—since I'm apparently really good with that spell. Then perhaps a Holy. If you want to join me for that last one…"

"I can do that," Aerith replied with a nod.

"I might be able to help," Aqua said.

Rinoa nodded in satisfaction. "Good, then if we do that, the others might catch on to what we're up to and this battle will be over before we know it."

With that, she flew off into the air, heading for a rooftop to get a better vantage point of the battle.

"That was very Leon-y of her," Aerith mused.

"I wonder why," Aqua said, laughing a little.

Aerith smiled. However, she quickly frowned when a Neoshadow came up behind her and slashed at her leg.

"Naughty thing!" she exclaimed. She bashed it on the head with her staff. Then she started to focus on her Seal Evil Limit Break.

Almost as if she'd been waiting for the right moment to do so, Aqua cast a Thundaga and a Magnera in quick succession, allowing her to go into Ghost drive.

Rinoa landed daintily on the rooftop and took in the whole scope of the battle. She smiled to herself. This was going to be a piece of cake compared to all the other stuff she had done.

xx

Quistis saw Rinoa get up on the roof and knew exactly what was going on.

"Drat," Yuffie muttered. "Cid still has my Bahamut summon."

"Don't bother," Quistis said. "Rinoa's getting a Limit Break ready."

"Then what should I do?" Yuffie asked.

"Watch," Quistis said. "And help if you can."

Ven's Keyblade quivered idly in his hand. He wanted to watch the Sorceress in action.

Quistis wondered what spell would be the best in helping Rinoa out. Perhaps Death…

xx

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Zell said. "She's amazing when she does this."

"Watch it," Leon cautioned.

Zell suddenly took quite an interest in taking down two Guardians at once.

Tifa laughed and took the opportunity to Cure everyone. Aerith looked like she was prepping a Limit, and something told her it wasn't a healing one.

Leon focused on keeping himself busy until Rinoa's chain-casting took effect. It wasn't like he needed to get out of the way or anything, so he might as well help the cause.

xx

"Smells like magic," Cloud mused, looking up from a Phantomtail that he had just taken down.

"Magic has a smell?" Terra asked.

"Not a smell, exactly. But it certainly has a specific feel."

"I bet she's the cause of it," Cid said, gesturing to Rinoa, who was concentrating on something.

"Charge your cannon," Cloud said. "Get ready to fire."

xx

Aerith closed her eyes, focusing her magic. She drove her staff into the ground, sending out a shockwave of power. All the Heartless froze.

Aqua began darting among the Heartless, killing every one of them that she locked onto.

Rinoa took in a deep breath, then cast Meltdown. Many of the smaller Heartless didn't even survive the attack. Those who did were left with severely weakened defenses.

"Man am I glad she's on our side," Cid mused.

Rinoa took a moment to collect her power and cast a quick succession of Meteors. Simultaneously, Quistis let loose a LV? Death on the nearby Heartless. Cid's cannon completed its charge and he fired it off.

Aqua continued to zip around the Heartless near her, destroying everyone in her path.

Aerith watched the scene, monitoring her sealed evil. Tifa and Cloud stood by, waiting to see if they would need to help. Yuffie was trying to decide if there was anything for her to do. There wasn't really and this bothered her.

Ven watched Rinoa cast in awe and decided he liked how Sorceresses fought. Zell watched Rinoa and Aerith in a frozen stupor and Leon considered punching him. Terra watched the interactions between everyone, observing how things had changed in the past several years. He hadn't really paid attention to how people fought on the side of light—or rather, Xehanort hadn't paid attention to that, only enough to ensure that he'd win.

Leon just watched Rinoa for the sake of watching Rinoa.

After all the Meteors had settled down, Rinoa paused. There weren't a lot of Heartless left, but there were still a good number stumbling about.

"Holy," Rinoa whispered, letting loose the attack.

Aerith raised her staff. "Holy," she breathed.

Aqua let loose her finisher attack and stood back to watch Holy take effect.

"Faith," Ven said holding up his Keyblade.

Yuffie tossed her shuriken at a Phantomtail in an attempt to steal something from it before it died.

Quistis thought about adding a Holy of her own, but figured Aerith, Rinoa and Ven had it covered.

Tifa's eyes lit up at all the light around them. It was a wonderful sight.

Zell started dancing.

Leon casually threw up a Holy of his own.

"Should we help?" Cid asked, turning to Cloud.

"Do we need to?" Cloud asked in return.

The answer was no.

xx

By the time all the Holys had run their course, there remained only one Poison Plant. It was twitching. Zell moved to kick it down, but Leon beat him to it with his gunblade. Tifa laughed.

Rinoa smiled and flew down to Leon.

"Hi," she said.

"Hello."

"We've still got pie to finish, don't we?"

He put his gunblade away. "Yes, yes we do."

"How long have they been, like that?" Aqua asked Aerith.

"Longer than I care to count," Aerith replied with a smile.

In pairs, they made their way back into the house. Pie was resumed, then Aerith shooed everyone to bed. (After insisting on giving Aqua, Terra and Ven all a new change of clothes from various closets around the house.)

Yuffie was gathering blankets for a bed on the floor, Squall was saying goodnight to Rinoa. Cloud and Aerith were the only two down in the kitchen. Aerith because she was rinsing plates, Cloud because he was crashing on one of the couches.

"As full as this place is, we're still missing someone, aren't we?" he asked.

She sighed wistfully.

"I can get on my bike and go find him," he offered.

"No, you just got here. You followed your light and you came back here. I wouldn't want to be the one who sends you away again. He'll come. I know he will."

He patted her on the back. "Okay, if you're sure."

She nodded, finished with the plates and headed upstairs, almost running into Yuffie as she did so. Yuffie apologized and made her way to the corner that she had claimed.

On her way to her room, Aerith knocked on Squall's door. "Bedtime!" she said.

xx

Tifa was fluffing the pillow on Yuffie's bed when Aerith walked in.

"Thanks for making room," she said.

"It's not a problem," Aerith said. "Good night."

"Good night, Aerith."